Quilter's Thread

This week has been beautiful with the temperature getting even hotter and the sun shining brighter. After a cold winter it’s time to lay outside and soak up that sun. What better way to say hello to summer than with a beautiful quilt to lay on while enjoying the outdoors. So here are a few summer themed quilts to help spark your creativity!

The Beach House Quilt 

This is a beautiful summer theme quilt. It’s colorful and bright with sailboats, fish and beach houses in the pattern design. This is a perfect quilt to take to the beach and show off to all of your friends this summer!

Watermelon Theme Quilt

This is another great summer theme quilt pattern. When I think of summer I can’t help but also think of fresh slices of watermelon on a hot summer day. This quilt although doesn’t look like a watermelon has the same shades of green, red, pink and white that watermelon has. This is a great quilt to make this summer and take to any picnic!

Pineapple Pattern

Another fruit theme quilt perfect for this summer is a pineapple theme quilt! I love the vibrant yellow and white shades of the fabric patterns. This is also a perfect quilt to make with small leftover scraps of fabric!

What are some of your favorite summer quilts that you have made? Share them with us on Quilter’s Thread Mobile App. Remember to stay active on Quilter’s Thread Mobile App in order to earn points to win a free pattern at the end of the month. Comments, uploading photos, and responding to surveys generate 1 point each. Liking 3 things on the app generates 1 point. Earn 10 points gets you a free pattern and 40 points gets you a free pattern and a Quilter’s Thread cloth shopping bag. Earn 75 points gets you a free pattern, shopping bag, and a $20 gift card.

Live Well. Quilt Well.

Now that it is finally starting to feel like summer with the warm temperatures and the bright sunlight shining all day, it is time to talk about the sun and its effects on fabrics. It is important to consider how the sun can damage your fabrics overtime and how to prevent future damage from occurring so that it doesn’t alter the look of your quilt.

To understand how fabrics can get damaged from the sunlight you must understand a little about how the sun’s energy is made up. The sun’s energy is made up of three components: visible radiation, the near-infrared radiation and ultraviolet radiation. Out of these three ultraviolet radiation, which is invisible to the human eye, is the most contributing factor to damaging and fading of fabrics.

What can happen to your fabric if it is left in the sun overtime is that the ultra-violet rays in daylight sun will make the color in your fabrics start to fade. I recommend that you don’t keep your quilt in the sun for long periods of time. However, artificial light can also damage your fabrics as well. Fluorescent lights can just as easily break down the dyes in your fabric and speed up the oxidation of the fibers causing it to damage and fade.

So what can you do to prevent further damage?

1. Limit sunlight and fluorescent light exposure to your quilt. Make sure if you are hanging your quilt on the wall or placed on a bed that it is not placed near a window where it can be exposed to sunlight through out the day.
2. Use UV protector glass frames when putting your quilts on display.
3. Choose your fabrics wisely. Always remember light colors reflect the sunlight while dark colors absorb it.

Got any tips on how to prevent sunlight damage to your quilts? Share them with us on Quilter’s Thread Mobile App.

Live Well. Quilt Well.

 

Now that it is finally getting warmer outside its time to start brainstorming new and fun summer quilt designs. Summer quilts are perfect to use for picnics and trips to the beach. I personally love summer quilts just because of the vibrant colors! Also I love how many themes you can use in the quilt such as the beach, ice cream, the sun, flowers, sunglasses, sandals, watermelon, dresses, etc.

When you brainstorm your next summer quilt project start with a pattern or a theme that you like. Then go to the fabric store and see what kind of colors and fabric patterns you want to incorporate into your quilt design. You can use fabrics that have flowers in them or beaches. Here are a few summer quilt patterns to help spark your creativity and summer cheer!

The quilt above is called Susan’s Flip Flops from Finely Finished Quilts website. Love how the sandals are from different tropical fabrics. This is a great tropical beach theme quilt to make this summer. This quilt makes me wanna go to Florida and dip my toes in the sand.

The quilt above is called the Mod Melons Quilt by Suzy Williams of Suzy Quilts from FabricWorm.com. The blocks in this quilt are simple and look amazing with the bright red and pink watermelons. 

The ice cream quilt above is from On the Trail Creations blog.  This ice cream cone quilt table runner is another great idea for a summer quilt. Every person has a childhood memory of getting an ice cream cone in the middle of the summer during a hot day. I love this quilt because of the bright colors of the ice cream scoops stacked high on top of each other. I also like the simplistic design that is perfect for any home.

What are some of your favorite summer quilts that you have made? Share them with us on Quilter’s Thread Mobile App. Remember to stay active on Quilter’s Thread Mobile App in order to earn points to win a free pattern at the end of the month. Comments, uploading photos, and responding to surveys generate 1 point each. Liking 3 things on the app generates 1 point. Earn 10 points gets you a free pattern and 40 points gets you a free pattern and a Quilter’s Thread cloth shopping bag. Earn 75 points gets you a free pattern, shopping bag, and a $20 gift card.

Live Well. Quilt Well.

With the quilt top finished, there were still decisions to be made and work to be done.

Of course, the backing had to be chosen. That was easy enough.

The batting can be a different issue. I showed Ellen quilts with various battings- Warm and Natural, Bamboo, Hobbs Poly-Down, etc. Ellen’s quilt top was sewn consistently enough that she could choose from any and get a great result. With some new quilters, I encourage a batting with some loft, as it has the propensity to absorb some of the lumps in a quilter’s early efforts. Also, a quilting pattern that minimizes the number of stitches and the tightness of the quilting pattern helps work in some of the inconsistencies.

Ellen liked a bit of loft and chose the Hobbs Poly-Down. She wanted a fairly modern looking quilt and choose an all over loop pattern for the quilting.

I think it’s important to give a new quilter the gratification of a finished project as quickly as possible. Ellen and I had scheduling issues, and it looked like it would take weeks to free up the time to teach her to quilt the quilt top and finish the binding, so we went to Plan B. I made time to quilt her quilt top on the long arm and finish it using the “Suzie’s Magic Binding” technique.

The link to “Suzie’s Magic Binding” is in the Tips Library. (Go to “Community,” select “Tips, References & Tools,” then “Library”– at the bottom right on your mobile device, at the top of the feed on the web.) Also, yardage requirements for this technique are included in the “Backing Yardage” reference in the same location.)

Live well, quilt well.

Lisa